The Physiology Of Marriage Physiologie Du Mariage

Download or read book The Physiology of Marriage (Physiologie Du Mariage) written by Honoré de Balzac and published by . This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "'Policy' in marriage consists of taking advantage of all opportunities offered by the laws, by the system of our morals, by force, and by cunning, for preventing your wife from doing the three things that practically constitute the life of love: writing to her lover, seeing him, and speaking to him."Honoré de Balzac enjoyed two illustrious literary careers--the first, pseudonymously writing thrilling romance novels and the second, using his own name, as the creator of La Comedie Humaine, the sweeping chronicle of, in his own words, "contemporary life in all its complexity." Balzac also wrote an important work of nonfiction--The Physiology of Marriage--that brought him his first fame as a writer and introduced his now familiar perspective in which passion is held in check by social advantage and blind innocence is the greatest danger to well-being.As overlooked today as Stendhal's much more ardent On Love is recognized, The Physiology of Marriage takes an unflinching view of the economics and power relationships of seduction and love. Balzac asserts that marriage and the selection of a wife be treated as a science, and examines topics ranging from moral education to methods for foiling adulterous relationships. For all of its apparent misogyny, this Physiology is surprisingly evenhanded in its rough treatment of both men and women (and is said to have been written with the collaboration of two women). Though addressed to a male audience, the book's lively attack on the stale institution of marriage actually made it most popular with women readers of its day. Dedication Introduction Meditation I. The Subject. Meditation II. Marriage Statistics. Meditation III. Of The Honest Woman. Meditation IV. Of The Virtuous Woman. Meditation V. Of The Predestined. Meditation VI. Of Boarding Schools. Meditation VII. Of The Honeymoon. Meditation VIII. Of The First Symptoms. Meditation IX. Epilogue. Meditation X. A Treatise On Marital Policy. Meditation XI. Instruction In The Home. Meditation XII. The Hygiene Of Marriage. Meditation XIII. Of Personal Measures. Meditation XIV. Of Apartments. Meditation XV. Of The Custom House. Meditation XVI. The Charter Of Marriage. Meditation XVII. The Theory Of The Bed. Meditation XVIII. Of Marital Revolutions. Meditation XIX. Of The Lover. Meditation XX. Essay On Police. Meditation XXI. The Art Of Returning Home. Meditation XXII. Of Catastrophes. Meditation XXIII. Of Manifestoes. Meditation XXIV. Principles Of Strategy. Meditation XXV. Of Allies. Meditation XXVI. Of Different Weapons. Meditation XXVII. Of The Last Symptoms. Meditation XXVIII. Of Compensations. Meditation XXIX. Of Conjugal Peace. Meditation XXX. Conclusion. Postscript.